DUBAI, Aug 23 (AFP) - A previously unknown group threatened to kill Libyan officials if Tripoli goes ahead with plans to host Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi this week, in a statement posted on an Islamist website Monday.
"If the vile Berlusconi visits Libya and is received by the Libyan government, we have decided ... to open the door of jihad (holy war)," the Abu Bakr al-Liby Group said.
"There will be a contract on the head of every Libyan minister and official."
It was not immediately clear what the group's name was a reference to, although Moamer Kadhafi's regime has faced armed opposition from Islamic militant groups in the past.
The group called on Tripoli not to receive a key US ally "whose hands have been stained with Muslim blood in Iraq, Afghanistan and other Muslim countries.
"We call on all our groupings to defend Libya from the vile person who wants to desecrate our nation, and we declare an ultimate state of alert in all Libyan regions," it said.
Berlusconi is to make brief visit to Tripoli Wednesday for talks with Kadhafi on stemming illegal immigration to Europe and Libya's claims for reparation for Italy's pre-World War II occupation of the country.
Libya is also Italy's main oil supplier.